<p>Some of us now have seniors that are going off to school, but we've been through some things that may help parents of younger students. One of the topics that pops up frequently on CC are people looking for recommendations for summer programs (theater, creative writing, science, and so on...). I wanted this thread to concentrate on listing some those programs that the parents have experience with and recommend. Some fill up quickly, so it's never to early to start planning. </p>
<p>I'll start the list in the next post. Also, please put the type of workshop in the title of the post. See below.</p>
<p>Where: Digipen Institute of Technology, Seattle
Website: <a href="http://workshops.digipen.edu/main.html%5B/url%5D">http://workshops.digipen.edu/main.html</a>
Programs: Workshops in animation, game design, programming, robotics
Quick Review: Excellent, highly recommended, especially for the serious student of these interests. This was one of the few places in the US that S could take a workshop in advanced animation: character studies and animating emotions. Major downside: no dorms, so housing more than doubled the cost of the workshop. </p>
<p>Where: Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana
Website: <a href="http://www.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/information/camp/2005/%5B/url%5D">http://www.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/information/camp/2005/</a>
Programs: Computer animation, ebsite development, technical illustration, etc.
Quick Review: Even though S ended up not attending because of a scheduling conflict, we became very familiar with the program and one of the faculty people coordinating it. It looked great, plus would give you an insight into Purdue's Computer Graphics Technology Dept. The price was reasonable and included dorm rooms.</p>
<p>my son has attended USA-Canada Mathcamp for the past 4 summers and had a great experience. It is much less structured than some of the other math camps. Kids pick and choose however much or little they wish to do from a smorgasbord of classes that change weekly. Lots of time for pure nerdy fun unrelated to the classes. <a href="http://www.mathcamp.org%5B/url%5D">www.mathcamp.org</a>.</p>
<p>For anything artistic, we recommend Interlochen Arts Academy's summer camps. Programs used to be eight weeks or four weeks but I believe they are now shifting to six weeks because so many kids had other things going on and couldn't commit to the longer sessions. </p>
<p>Admission is selective and you need to be applying right around now for the upcoming summer.</p>
<p>You should brace yourself for your child loving it so much she insists on applying to the academy itself for high school! This is what happened with our daughter and with others she knew.</p>
<p>Nora Jones, Pearl and Josh Grobin are alums.</p>
<p>Where there be Dragons- summer and semester abroad programs to unusual places including Tibet, Northern India, Cambodia Thailand and some areas of South America. Provides intimate exposure to other cultures through rugged travel, homestays, trekking, service project, study of development issues, independent study projects, language study, philosophy, religious studies.<br>
Not for every child but for those with a sense of adventure and those who are looking to explore beyond their comfort zones a life changing opportunity.
<a href="http://www.wheretherebedragons.com%5B/url%5D">www.wheretherebedragons.com</a></p>
<p>My daughter attended an immersion program in Spain geared specifically to 15-17 year olds (from other European countries as well as from the U.S.). The program involved Spanish classes in the mornings, trips and activities in the afternoons/evenings and on weekends, and living with a Spanish family. The school whre she studied is geared primarily for adults, but this is a totally separate, more structured program specifically for teens. This program and others like it are described on the NRCSA website (nrcsa.com).</p>
<p>The Walden School is a five-week summer music camp and festival with an international reputation for providing creative theoretical training for young musicians, ages 9-18, beginners to advanced.</p>
<p>Wonderful, wonderful summer experience for musically inclined students. In New Hampshire.</p>
<p>MIT has an amazing program any high achieving URM interested in math/science should investigate. Columbia has a variety of summer courses that are very good.</p>
<p>Digmedia,
The game design program at Purdue looks super but the dates - June 13 - 18?? His last day of school is the 18th. The price is good too.</p>
<p>We've both looked into the one at Digipen but, the price is higher but as you mentioned it doesn't include room and board which makes it even more complicated and pricer. </p>
<p>California kids who are good in math or science should take a look at COSMOS, which is held on some of the UC campuses. You can get in basically with good grades -- you do not have to be involved in Intel competitions, Olympiads, or already be working in someone's lab. They are really trying to expand this in ways that attract kids to science (especially girls, I believe) and to keep the science kids in state. For example, they give merit-based college scholarships to COSMOS alumni, some of the programs feed into internships, and they've established an alumni network. Also, it's reasonably priced and offers need-based scholarships to attend.</p>
<p>My daughter attended a summer of Carnegie Mellon Pre-College. HS jrs and srs choose from about three dozen CMU courses. She was interested in engineering, and taking Calc and Intro to EE was an excellent experience/introduction to what engineering education at a selective college would be like, and the courses were for credit. She made about dozen friends there who went on to attend CMU. She chose not too, but has gone on to be a mech. eng. student elsewhere. </p>
<p>Where: Michigan State University
Website: <a href="http://www.msu.edu/%7Ehshsp/program.htm%5B/url%5D">www.msu.edu/~hshsp/program.htm</a>
Program: HSHSP - seven weeks of math or science research
Quick Review: My s loved it. He went after tenth and eleventh grades. He made friends from around the country. It was not very structured, which my s
particularly enjoyed. He did physics research at the NSCL.</p>
<p>VAriety of Fields
Uconn's Mentor Connection. I attended during the summer before my senior year and I LOVED it. We stayed in the best dorms, (three weeks residential). The best part was that most of us became close with our professors. The student:teacher ratio was AT MOST 5:1. There were quite a few kids who chose a site that wasn't very popular and ended up with a professor all to themselves. Each site (there were about 30?) had particular meeting schedules and different activities and expectations academically. I chose "Literature and the Land" and we met at 10am everyday and ended at varying times. My particular site was outstanding. Our professor took us to NYC for a day (hah, what a great time. We left at 6am and returned at 2am!). We went to the museums, saw the sights and spent an evening browsing through books at the Strand. We also went to Cape Cod for a day and later went climbing up Mount Holyoke. I'll tell you, the hands on learning was wonderful. What better place to discuss Emerson or Thoreau than out in the woods or under a tree? Overall, it's a great experience and the counselors are wonderful and the sites great.</p>
<p>My daughter didn't do this program ( and leave her ponies?), but the academic director is a chem prof where she is currently attending school and is great.</p>
<p>CTY camps for Fast-Paced High SChool Physics and Chemistry to get out of Honors classes in these fields and prepare for AP courses.
PROMYS (Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists) at Boston University for two summers: number theory, combinatorics, graph theory.</p>
<p>At the University of Houston in Houston, Texas</p>
<p>PROMES (Program for Mastery in Engineering Studies ) for 10 and 11th graders</p>
<p>Mentoring & Enrichment Seminar in Engineering Training (MESET) Two week summer camp where students stay in college dorms and attend college-like classes. </p>